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With help from Darren Goode, Erica Martinson, Talia Buford and Alex Guillén

THEN AND NOW, NOW AND THEN: Candidate Barack Obama pushed it hard in 2008: a tax on Big Oil company profits that would flow back to families in $1,000 rebate checks. President Barack Obama acts as if the idea never existed.

Obama dropped the plan soon after winning office, when the economic crisis depressed oil demand worldwide, and he hasn’t talked about it since then. His aides also declined to address it on the record.

The arc of the tax from campaign cornerstone to administration dustbin illustrates the speed at which election-year promises can evaporate once the realities of governing set in. And it highlights Obama’s difficulty matching his get-tough rhetoric on oil companies with results, particularly as the Senate lost its moderate core, Republican allies on the issue turned into opponents and longtime Democratic sponsors retired. POLITICO’s Carrie Budoff Brown has the story: http://politi.co/HOnbGw.

WATCH THE MONEY PILE UP: House Energy and Commerce Committee leaders are stockpiling large cash reserves headed into their November campaigns, an early hint that — at least if the big money prevails — the powerful panel will see minimal shake-up at the top come 2013.

But first-quarter fundraising reports turned in to the Federal Election Commission by Sunday's filing deadline also reveal several rank-and-file committee members who are bracing for tough fights. Darren Samuelsohn checks cheddar like a food inspector (for Pros): http://politico.pro/ICU4Az.

HAPPY TUESDAY and welcome to Morning Energy, where this week is proof positive that good things happen to good people. POLITICO cartoonist Matt Wuerker — an all-around nice guy who goes out of his way to acknowledge the efforts of others — has been given some well-deserved recognition of his own: a Pulitzer Prize. Congratulations, Matt. Check out a few highlights of Wuerker’s genius work (http://politi.co/IHmJd8), but help ME compete for the “Best Sophomoric Humor in an Online Energy Policy Newsletter” Pulitzer by sending your insider news to preis@politico.com.

PUSHING BIG BILLS: The House Energy and Commerce Committee’s power panel meets today to vote on two GOP-sponsored measures that are part of the party’s political response to high gas prices: one from Ed Whitfield (R-Ky.) curbing EPA regulation of gasoline and studying the agency's impact on prices and another from Cory Gardner (R-Colo.) requiring an increase in federal lands leased for oil and gas drilling that's proportional to any tapping of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. The markup starts at 10 a.m. in 2123 Rayburn

TWEAKED: A Republican substitute amendment to Whitfield's bill would add the Agriculture Department to the interagency committee, require estimates on the effects on employment from both increased and decreased gasoline prices and clarify that deferred rules don't go beyond those listed in the bill. The lone Democratic amendment to Whitfield's bill as of late Monday afternoon was from Rep. Gene Green (D-Texas) (http://politico.pro/HU7tXo) to remove language from Rep. Bob Latta (R-Ohio) to have EPA consider costs when determining a safe level of pollution.

At least two amendments had been filed to the Gardner bill: one (http://politico.pro/HEynSL) from Rep. Brian Bilbray (R-Calif.) adding language saying no offshore leasing will occur off any state not already offered under the federal 2007-2012 offshore leasing program unless the governor agrees to it; and one from Gardner (http://politico.pro/Jw9Nly) making tweaks to his bill.

WILL KEYSTONE KILL THE CAT? Concerns are bubbling up from House Republicans about the wisdom of moving a three-month “shell” transportation extension devoid of policy provisions except the Keystone XL pipeline, and the unrest may derail the latest bill. Kathryn A. Wolfe has the story for Pros: http://politico.pro/J5V9C0

LEARN YOUR RULES, YOU BETTER LEARN YOUR RULES: House Rules meets this afternoon to prepare the transportation extension for its trip to the House floor. The hearing is at 3 p.m. in H-313 of the Capitol.

PRO TRANSPORTATION IS FINALLY HERE! Today marks the official launch of POLITICO Pro Transportation, a vertical that will cover transportation and infrastructure just as we do energy. Hopefully, you already subscribe to Adam Snider and Burgess Everett’s Morning Transportation. Now you can get even more from the T&I team by signing up: subscribe@politicopro.com, (703) 341-4600 or www.politicopro.com/proinfo. And help celebrate the launch tomorrow, when Pro T&I hosts a discussion of transportation and infrastructure issues featuring Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood and other special guests. To RSVP: http://bit.ly/HKwIf5. To follow the conversation on Twitter: #ProTI

MERCURIAL: An Environment and Public Works panel takes testimony from public health and environmental officials for a hearing on mercury pollution — a loaded topic amid EPA’s contested new rules on mercury pollution. Susan Dudley, OIRA director under George W. Bush, will argue that 99 percent of the benefits from the Mercury and Air Toxics Rule will come from reducing particulate matter and that the rule will not really benefit children so much as people with a median age of 80.

BECAUSE ARGENTINA’S PREVIOUS FIGHT WITH A EUROPEAN POWER WENT SWIMMINGLY… The South American country is seizing a controlling stake in an oil company owned by Spanish firm Repsol. The move was announced on national television by Argentine President Cristina Fernandez and met with jubilation by her supporters, but Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Garcia said it had “broken the climate of friendship.” BBC: http://bbc.in/HLnPjU.

DUDE SAID SEEPAGE: The sheen spotted in the Gulf of Mexico last week was due to oil naturally seeping from the seabed, the BSEE said today. Shell, which operates two wells near the six-barrel sheen, showed regulators video from a remote-operated vehicle to prove their drilling was not to blame. (Houston Chronicle: http://bit.ly/HNeld5)

** A message from America’s Natural Gas Alliance: ANGA member companies are proud to support the disclosure of additives used in the hydraulic fracturing process at the website www.fracfocus.org. Visit this site for well-by-well data and more information from state regulators. **

9-9-9 FINGERS: A Magellanic penguin — in a move your host sees as a clear endorsement of Herman Cain — bit Newt Gingrich on Friday during his tour of the St. Louis Zoo. AP/WaPo: http://wapo.st/HXsz9l. (h/t Animalist)

PATRICK GAVIN, TONY ROMM AND FREE BEER: All three are on the agenda tonight when POLITICO Pro Trivia returns. So, Pros, RSVP with your team of four to awilliams@politico.com and get ready to go for the gold[en beverage].

AND THEN IT GOT REAL: Sen. Tom Coburn is leaving virtually no one unscathed in a blistering new book in which he accuses both parties of hypocrisy and failed leadership in dealing with the country’s mounting debt problems. Among the Oklahoma Republican’s top targets: tax activist Grover Norquist. Manu Raju reports: http://politi.co/IT7tZV.

PANDORA’S BOX: The American Energy Alliance is out with a six-figure ad buy on Pandora, an online music service, of 45 million 30-second commercials. The ad, which calls out President Barack Obama’s “all of the above” energy plan as “a real campaign slogan full of empty promises,” will air in the battleground states of New Mexico, Colorado, Nevada, Iowa, Michigan, Ohio, Florida, Virginia and North Carolina between April 16 and 27. Listen to the ad: http://bit.ly/HNYzOn

AH YES, THE EVER-SUCCESSFUL “HE STARTED IT” DEFENSE: AEA is refusing to disclose how much it is spending on the ad buy because the Obama campaign didn’t disclose its own spending on a recent Pandora ad buy, an AEA representative told ME. The Obama campaign did not return requests for comment.

PENCILS DOWN: Today is the deadline for the EPA to finalize rules regulating the air emissions of oil and gas operations, which would require the industry to capture fugitive emissions during well preparation — the first federal rule to govern air standards for hydraulically fracked wells. The EPA says the new source performance standards will reduce volatile organic compounds, air toxics and methane from oil and gas productions. The agency is issuing the rules in response to a 2009 lawsuit from environmentalists who said EPA wasn’t reviewing the standards as required by the Clean Air Act. The proposed rule: http://1.usa.gov/nWW1tx.

EPW ranking member Sen. Jim Inhofe sent a letter to EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson on Monday, voicing his concerns with the pending rules and the science they were based upon: http://1.usa.gov/ICvzDq.

SIDEBAR! The EPA heads back to court again Tuesday for oral arguments over the agency’s so-called E15 waiver, which allows increased concentrations of ethanol in gasoline for vehicles made after 2007. Food producers say it diverts corn from food stocks to gas tanks, driving up prices. Judges David Sentelle, David Tatel and Brett Kavanaugh of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit will hear 20 minutes per side in Grocery Manufacturers Association v. EPA. 9:30 a.m. E. Barrett Prettyman Federal Courthouse

BRISTOL BLUES: A group of mostly Republican sportsmen met with top brass at the White House and EPA on Monday to ask the EPA to take the unprecedented step of vetoing a Clean Water Act section 404 permit before mining proprietors even apply for it. Former Alaska state Senate President Rick Halford and several others met with White House energy and environment adviser Heather Zichal and others. They also met with EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson about the proposed Pebble Mine in Bristol Bay, Alaska. The EPA is about to release a watershed assessment on the area in the next month, Halford said, and they hope EPA the agency move to stop costly efforts to develop the mine, which opponents argue will have a disastrous effect on wild salmon.

Meanwhile on the hill, Sens. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) and Ben Cardin (D-Md.) and Rep. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) hosted scientists presenting the detrimental impacts of mountaintop removal mining on water and community health. The scientists shared peer-reviewed studies on water degradation and increased mortality and birth defect rates in Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia MTR regions, according to the Appalachian Community Health Emergency campaign.

-- FERC on Monday approved the Sabine Pass LNG export terminal in Louisiana. The project, which will be able to export up to 16 million tons a year, will have to adhere to 55 environmental mitigation conditions FERC staff recommended in a December assessment. FERC also vacated an order for the Jordan Cove Energy Project to construct an LNG import terminal in Coos County, Ore. The company said that it no longer planned to build the terminal, which had been approved in 2009, due to market conditions.

-- Japan should quickly move spent fuel rods being stored at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) said Monday after visiting the site earlier this month. Guillén: http://politico.pro/IWdtyj.

-- Broadcast networks have slashed their coverage of climate issues since 2009, according to a report from Media Matters: http://bit.ly/ISQeoM.

-- The nationwide average for regular gasoline went down two cents Monday to $3.91 a gallon, according to AAA. The drop comes after gas prices stayed at $3.93 a gallon for two weeks in a row.

-- Human Events interviews Doc Hastings and says it has become the House Natural Resources Committee chairman’s “job to clean up the administration’s mess.” Human Events: http://bit.ly/HLbpby.

-- The National Hydropower Industry Monday rolled out a map (http://bit.ly/Ign5VJ) aimed at demonstrating the nationwide nature of the industry’s economic benefits. The map is part of a broader campaign to extend the production tax credit for renewable energy. Bloomberg: http://bloom.bg/HSm1GT.

THAT’S ALL FOR ME, but a big thanks to everyone who sent ME their media favorites. Thanks for bringing Neutral Milk Hotel back into my life: http://bit.ly/t1gWx2.

** A message from America’s Natural Gas Alliance: From deep below the ground to your electrical outlet or the gas pump, natural gas is a cleaner American energy source. Los Angeles is experiencing significant smog reduction after converting its mass transit system to cleaner-burning natural gas vehicles. And communities across the country are converting power plants to natural gas to help clear the air, as well.

Advances in natural gas development are making our operations cleaner. The drilling footprint is 70 percent smaller than a generation ago, and from water recycling to all-natural drilling fluids, scientists are continually pursuing further innovations. Natural gas is cleaner to develop and cleaner to use. That’s smarter power today. Visit anga.us to learn more. **